Obama administration ends some terror asylum restrictions

The Obama administration is quietly making it easier for people with tangential connections to terror groups to receive refugee status or asylum in the United States.

Two new exemptions to the Immigration and Nationality Act published in the Federal Register Wednesday by the Departments of Homeland Security and State mean that who provided “insignificant” or “limited” material support for terror groups will no longer be automatically denied eligibility from asylum or refugee status.

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The rules will affect about 3,000 people who have pending asylum cases, one refugee advocate said, and an unknown additional number of people currently in the process of being deported. It will likely help Syrian refugees who would otherwise be blocked from receiving U.S. aid by existing rules.

The new exemptions apply to “limited material support,” which a DHS spokeswoman said is defined as “material support that was insignificant in amount or provided incidentally in the course of everyday social, commercial, family or humanitarian interactions, or under significant pressure.”

DHS provided a series of examples of individuals who would have been ineligible for asylum or refugee status before the new exemptions, including business owners who unwittingly provided service to members of a terror group, aid workers who assisted members of a terror group during the aftermath of a natural disaster or civil conflict and people who had to pay a toll or tax to a terror group to pass through opposition-occupied territory.

“For instance, an owner of a restaurant who serves food to any paying customer, even though he knows some of them are members of an opposition group; or a mother or father who — as any parent would — fed and clothed their young adult child, even when they knew their child is part of a resistance movement,” the DHS spokeswoman said.

Aside from the Federal Register publication, the only public notice announcing the changes came from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who has for years been championing a change in the “material support” definition.

“The existing interpretation was so broad as to be unworkable. It resulted in deserving refugees and asylees being barred from the United States for actions so tangential and minimal that no rational person would consider them supporters of terrorist activities,” Leahy said. “These changes help return our nation to its historic role as a welcoming sanctuary to the world’s most vulnerable populations.”

The DHS spokeswoman did not say how many people would be impacted by the rule change, but Leahy said tens of thousands of refugees would be helped.

Anwen Hughes, an attorney for Human Rights First, which has long lobbied to expand the universe of people eligible for asylum and refugee status, said there are about 3,000 cases pending now that will be impacted, along with a smaller but unknown number of people in the process of being deported who will be eligible for relief.

Hughes said the changes will help displaced people who have no alternative than to deal with members of banned groups during the course of their daily lives. She said the new rules could allow thousands of displaced Syrians apply for asylum or refugee status who otherwise would have been forbidden.

“If you happen to be running your falafel stand or your restaurant in a zone of conflict, what ends up happening is some of your customers are members of armed groups,” she said. “Part of the impetus of this is that there is a serious desire on the part of the U.S. now to play the leadership role it has traditionally played in the resettlement with regard to the Syria refugee situation.”